Norway Rat

I'm looking for a little advice on Norway Rats. I am dealing with a trap shy Norway Rat at a corn research center.

Here is what's been done so far. Massive baiting by the customer, none have been touched, the stick bait and those little bags of poison. They have tons of snaps out for mice, which I'm sure is where it's learned to be trap shy. Placed lots of rat sized snaps out baited with peanut butter and or jerky with out setting the traps. Came back two days later to rebait and set the traps. No rebaiting was needed, none were touched. In a week, one trap had been licked clean, probably by mice. I placed large glue boards in it's travel path, folded to form a tunnel as an escape point. I've used live traps, some baited with corn, none touched. I've also used WCS rodent bait on traps. The rat (seems to be just one) travels inside the insulation between the plastic interior and the metal exterior wall of the metal pole building. Currently I have a few blind set round body grips inside the insulation where it has made some slits in the plastic and exposed it's tunnel.

The only sign that there is a rat here are the holes and tears in the insulation, employee sightings, and have found maybe a half dozen pieces of scat. There aren't any chewed in bags of corn, or boxes, but then there are enough kernels of corn lying around that it doesn't have to touch a bait or tear into a bag. The rat has gotten so use to the employees that it casually walks from one side of the overhead door to the other and along the walls, while employees work just feet away. I've used a broom to bang on the plastic insulation covering to flush it out and have yet to see it.

I haven't dealt with rats much, so I'm scratching my head. Any advice?

Norway rats will often "test" baits...and this is why they are more effective on mice than rats.
They eat small bits to see how their system accepts it or rejects it.
They feel the slightest ill, they don't go back.

What type of traps are you using ?

I might suggest 330 Trapper's AES 4x4x15" trap, which is excellent on any small rodents and Fireball from Jameson Scent Co.

Blind set for him where he travels with a # 2 Victor Square Jaw on a hair trigger (if legal and acceptable). Use some dry grass clippings to cover it,I have caught many this way,and it should suitcase him. This one we made into a good Rat.

LT, I'm using Tomahawk and Safegaurd squirrel traps and even a few double door hava junks. It's what I have.

Albert, it's travel path is along the base of the wall inside the building on the concrete floor and has tunnels inside of the fiberglass insulation attached to the inside of the wall. This time of year is mass chaos at the place, trying to get experiments ready for planting, so I don't think a exposed foothold would work considering the amount of activity going on around it.

I've use the exposed trap also , Albert.
My choice was a tight fit with a B & L # 1.
The #2 would have a bigger kill area, however.

Hanible, I'm not overly fond of the 3 traps you mentioned...

Lean a small board against the wall,creating a tunnel like you would for mink trapping,attatch the trap chain to the board for an anchor, and put a note on it explaining why it is there and to please not disturb it.Is the building vacant, or less occupied on certain days or weekends ? I put live cages out also when I do this, but in plain view,and have no expectation of catching the Rat in them. I just want him to slip up - by being pre-occupied with the cages,and thinking I am trying the same unsuccessful methods the last guy used.A single Rat can be a very trying job, and you are going to have to be persistent and creative to resolve it usually.

The 4x4's are 18" and the Fireball is an Excellent bait for many different applications!

Well now, isn't just like AES to do me one better ! LOL !

It's a corn research center, the stuff is everywhere, mostly from where they've treated it. They keep joking, that at least it wont have worms. lol There are three basic buildings all conected together with corridors. It seems to just be in the steel building part where the seed treating and preparation takes place. It seems to just be gathering random kernels off of the ground and not tearing into any product, that would be costly. One experiment bag of 100 seeds chewed into could destroy a lot of research. I've found no evidence where it's going to the break room or anywhere else for food. Only sign of the thing actually is the holes and tunnels in the wall insulation, I've found very little scat.

I HAD ONE IN FEED ROOM THAT WOULDN'T WORK A TRAP SO I LAYED AN OPEN FEED SACK WITH CRACKED CORN ALONG THE WALL WITH 3 11/2 COIL SPRINGS BEDDED IN THE CORN WITH BACON WIRED TO CENTER TRAP. CAUGHT IT THE NEXT NIGHT.

May be a good one to try late Sat when everyone is leaving. Check it again right as they get back.

I was thinking of feeding it for a couple days. Make a box with four holes and fill it with corn and or other bait items. Let it sit until it starts feeding from it regularly then add some body grips inside the holes. I do like the feedsack Idea though.

Bait won't work if there's food every where , need to go it your mink trapper mode , set blind sets , take victor snap traps and bed them down under the dirt leaving only the pan showing , take natural thing around there to guide them over the sweet spot , also wire the traps to something you never know when you will get the mother rat , this will not solve anything even if you kill every rat more will come , they need to change there ways and keep this corn cleaned up

Wire or screw some traps on the path of this over head door rat ,no bait , don't bait anything ,you want them to just run right across the traps ,bait will just slow them down ,crazy how smart rats get , man kind has been trying to kill these things off for thousands of years , they did manage to almost kill us off

Dress up like Peter Pan & get a flute.

He wants to catch a rat, not Tinker Bell.

Good one Phil, but I believe you mean the "Pied Piper",,,,unless you're re-writing fairy tales. lol

"Hey come on babe, follow me, I'm the Pied Piper".....Crispian St.Peters

Last Peter Pan movie I've seen Tinker Bell looked a lot like Julia Roberts. I'm good with that too!

Like several others mentioned, I believe that blind sets are the key here. I personally dealt with this similar situation with a very educated Norway Rat that had been educated by the home owners prior to my starting the job...

I got some great input from forum members here after trying many methods and eventually caught it in the basement subfloor by using piles of black sunflower seeds and layers of regular flour to track its travelways. Once it had started eating the sunflower seeds and tracks had appeared in the flour, I bedded several #1 and 1 1/2 longsprings along these trails using guides. 2 days later I had it...They typically run tight to the structure. Leave the area as natural as it was when you got there after setting the traps. These were set at ground level like you would a fox set.

I believe the trails/tunnels in the insulation you have discovered are your key to success. Using existing insulation, you should be able to 'bed' footholds directly in these tunnels and keep him in his natural habitat. Conibears may be difficult unless you install an 1/8" mesh 'pan' through the wires after bending them at 90 degrees. This will allow you to set the trap upside down and disguise it better while having no triggers visible.

Hope this helps.

I wore latex gloves while setting the traps also. Any change in there environment they will notice

Well I went to precautions because I knew I was dealing with an educated rat. Since then, I've typically used latex gloves in setting for them. Maybe not necessary but it can't hurt.

A good idea when handling traps and the rats because of the nature of them and diseases anyways...

Right now traps are pulled. Corporate execs came in and it wouldn't look good having traps everywhere. I'm resetting this Sat. morning. I keep trying to figure how to set a foothold somewhere. All the trapping is taking place on a concrete floor. Finding a place where pallets aren't being moved or an employee working nearby is the tough part. Talking to WCS they were really recomending Detour gel, saying that the burning sensation it gives the rat will make it leave the safety of the insulation and more likely to enter a trap. Anyone have any experience with the stuff?

Never heard of Detour gel , care to tell us more ?

From what I was told, it's basically like pepper spray in a caulking tube. Put it in openings and passages and it will act like it's on fire and be more likely to run into a trap for cover.

Had a smart one last year that finally fell for a bread and sardine ball.

Well, the Detour finally came in. Despite the labelling telling me not to I had to find out. I did the entire application of this stuff with a dab of it on the back of my hand. I hope it irritates the rats skin more than it did mine. At most I felt a slight warmth, but will see, it may tear rat up. Looking at the label, it's made by Pigeonx, probably the same stuff. White pepper and mineral oil.